The Rangers currently have five defensemen under the age of
28 on their roster and two more top prospects on the way, so it’s very likely
New York will be looking to add some offensive firepower with its first-round
pick, No. 15 overall in the NHL Draft.

Between now and June 24th, we’ll take a look at some of the
forwards that the Rangers might be thinking about taking on draft
day. Today, we look at…

THN – “Being named to the Canadian team for the world
under-18s allowed Brett Ritchie to gain some redemption after a trying
season.A combination of injuries and a
bout of mononucleosis limited him to 49 games and kept him out of the CHL
prospects game.‘He missed quite a bit
of time and wasn’t on a very good team’ a scout said, ‘but everybody looks for
a 6-foot-3 power forward with good hands.’Ritchie, however, failed to deliver on high expectations.He was not even a point-per-game player this
season, but scouts feel he has the size and ability to be one in major
junior.‘He’s a big, strong kid,’
another scout said.‘He’s not a physical
guy by any means, but he combines some pretty good skill with that size.’When Ritchie is healthy and at his best he’s
dominating along the boards and corners and competing hard for loose
pucks.He skates well for a player of
his frame and has soft hands around the net.”

The
Scouting Report – “There were high expectations for Ritchie this year; something
he struggled to deal with at the start of the year. Initially overshadowed by
teammates Alexander Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov, Ritchie found his scoring
touch in the second half of the season and was one of Canada’s better
forwards at the U18’s. A big winger with a good shot, Ritchie can be a pretty
effective sniper when he’s on his game. The symptoms in his game we’re not
overly fond of is that he is inconsistent, and while shielding the puck well,
he doesn’t really play with any sense of physicality. If you see him play
regularly, you will probably even find that his game can be plagued by
laziness. Despite our concerns, he does have the skill-set where a team will be
willing to take a chance on him and see what they can get after a few years of development.”

Bruins
2011 Draft Watch – “It was a tough year for Ritchie who was starting to
round into form after a sluggish start, only to be felled by a bout with mono
that effectively took him out of it for the balance of the season in January.
Ritchie is a big kid with a nice stride who does all the things you want from
your power winger along the walls. He takes the puck to the net, shields it effectively
when in possession and cycling. He's not a real baggage smasher who goes out of
his way to wreck guys, but will give a hit and take one. His mitts are OK, and
yet he still managed 21 goals in 49 games this season so the potential is there
for him so long as he continues to play in the greasy areas of the ice. NHL
teams love those power forwards.”

Corey Pronman – “Brett Ritchie's season was affected when he was hit by mononucleosis
mid-year, but he has enough admirable physical tools that helped him put
together a decent season given the circumstances. His skating tool was fringe
coming into the season but he made some strides in that area to where it is
fringe-average and can touch average with good enough mechanics to possibly
foresee future improvements. Ritchie's best tool is his physical game which
projects as plus. He dominates when the puck gets along the wall and he scores
most of his goals from within the blue paint area. I've seen times where
opponents would throw their body at Ritchie and basically bounce off him. On
the power play, he's the prototypical forward you want standing in front of the
net as he has notable hand-eye coordination for a big guy and can get his stick
on loose pucks and shots. The puck skills as a whole though are below-average,
and he won't be used to start the play or create in open ice. His hockey sense
is decent, maybe even flashing a small notch above average. Ritchie knows where
he needs to be in the offensive zone and doesn't just drive to the net, and
also shows a solid defensive game.”

The
Hockey Writers – “Like most young power forwards, Ritchie will need to
learn to utilize his size and engage himself physically to dominate the
opposition and reach his full potential. The large winger added
about 15-20 pounds of muscle last summer and it was noticeable during puck
battles along the half-boards. His skating stride is sufficient and he
could stand to improve his first couple of steps but once Ritchie gets moving
he has good speed and is difficult to contain. Ritchie has all of
the attributes professional scouts like in a power forward with the size, shot,
soft hands and a strong skating stride to work in the dirty areas of the
rink. The biggest attraction with Ritchie is his ability to
absolutely dominate along the boards and in the corners and if he is fully
engaged physically he is a tank to move.Scouts would love to see Brett utilize his size on a more consistent
basis and develop a bit of a mean streak as well especially after seeing some
of the fights he has been involved in. Ritchie possesses all of the
qualities to become one of the bigger steals of the 2011 NHL
Draft. If he puts in the work ethic to maximize his offensive
skills then the kid has a lot to offer at the NHL level. It is not
too often that a player owns the size, hands, shot and puck protection skills
like Ritchie that could possibly slip into the second round. Brett
admits that he likes to model his game after Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf (19th
overall in 2003) and NHL teams would be thrilled if they selected a
player who has the ability to dominate games physically similar
to the Ducks’ star power forward.”

Thoughts: Ritchie is a hulking player, but he doesn’t
exploit his tremendous size advantage.He’s a good skater and has decent hands, but he’d really shoot up draft
boards if he played more physically.After missing much of the season with ailments, Ritchie may get lost in
the shuffle.But if he’d played the
whole year, his numbers would be much more impressive and he’d probably be a
surefire top pick.With all the Rangers’
undersized forwards, Ritchie would be an attractive addition.However, they aren’t likely to spend a
first-round pick on him.

New York
drafted Michael Del Zotto from the OHL in the first round in 2008.